NYC can be very humid. I am considering building a cabinet to store about 2 thousand CDs and about 500 DVD movies. Should I keep them in drawers? Binders (will save space definitely), keep them lined up on a shelf with glass doors (although I don’t think this is the safest way as humidity can creep in)?

Get a device to measure your humidty - or if you don’t already have one. I keep my humidity between 50 ~ 55 MAX. I try not to go below 45-50 to avoid static, and you should be fine. If your relative humidty is over 55 then I recommend you get a de-humidifier. Store them away from sunlight, in a dry location, in their respective jewel cases. Avoid those sleeves.

The actual sleeve isn’t going to damage your disks unless theres dust and crap in there, though I’m sceptical of some of the “gauze” backed folder sleeves. I suppose they are probably better in the case that the sleeve does get a bit polluted.

In a binder full of disks and zipped up, there tends to be some amount of pressure exerted pushing the disks together. When you open certain folder cases it’s even more pronounced towards the spine of the case, and stresses the disks so you have to slightly close the case to remove them comfortably. This is mainly refering to the larger four disk per page folders, and some are better than others for sure. Another problem with them is when they are being filled over time, the disks get a lot of scope for movement if you are using the case a lot.

The DJ case suspends the disks in a file cabinet style, so if kept flat the disks will not be compacted against one another. Theres no flipping through pages. They also look cool as hell, well, I think so.

Actual dvd cases are probably the best storage format, but again there is the problem of the disk flexing as it is removed from the centre holder in the case.